Kellen Knott

Solutions Without a Problem

2011-10-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

The nature of a problem is not bound by a solution but rests independently in its own sphere. A sphere that the problem is content to stay in despite the "solutions" we throw at it. The nature of a problem often lies far deeper than what catches the eye, with the root lying (most often) well below the surface.

When attending a garden it is not uncommon to encounter a weed from time to time as this naturally occurs when growing a garden. The average man upon encountering this weed quickly identifies the facade of this problem and with equal speed, so also identifies a "solution". With a quick bend of the knee and flick of the wrist, the problem has seemingly been mitigated--the weed plucked from the surface and thrown to the bushes.

The next week, the man returns to his garden and encounters the very same weed in the very same spot. "Perhaps this is a coincidence," he says to himself, and follows the exact same path with the exact same solution as the previous week. However a coincidence it was not. Week after week, the problem persisted, the solution remained constant and the outcome was unwavering.

The fact of the matter is that the appearance of the weed itself was by no means the problem. Removing the appearance of the weed allowed a temporary "solution" that rendered a positive feeling of satisfaction with the man and did little else beyond making the dirt more aesthetically appealing for the short term--the weed still remained. The real problem of course was the root of the weed. The root that was buried deep in the earth below. When the root is removed then only will a lasting solution be found. When the root is removed the weed will not grow back.

While this logic may seem elementary, logic it remains and far too little is it applied to the problems we encounter on a daily basis. Whether it is at home, work, in the garden or even with doing charity work, we must always search for the root of the problems before finding solutions. For a "solution" that does not solve a problem is no solution at all because the problem still remains.

Quick-fixes are certainly the easiest path to follow in order to "get rid of" a problem. However, the issue with these quick-fixes is that in the long run we will either:

Move on and forget about the problem, though it still persists; or
Spend far more time and resources "fixing" the problem than we would have, had we simply provided real solutions in the first place.

In Haiti, this reality was quite prevalent. In the early days when I was working in the field medical clinics, we would see patients coming in with all sorts of illness and injury. Some of this was due to the earthquake in one way or another, however much of the illness we saw was entirely unrelated to the events of January 12th. One such problem we had were patients who were suffering from chronic hypertension or "high blood pressure." Quite often this condition would be associated with poor dietary habits, inactive lifestyles and chronic obesity.

As many of our care providers were short-term volunteers with assignments anywhere from two weeks to a month, there was a natural tendency to want to "fix" these patients during their short time in country. One such "fix" which would be offered was a prescription for blood pressure medications. These blood pressure medications would lower the patient's blood pressure to a more reasonable level while the patient was taking them.

These medications certainly provided a short-term "solution" for these patients, and rendered a feeling of satisfaction to the care providers having felt that they had done something during their time in Haiti. However, what happened when the few tablets we gave the patient ran out? Most often the patient would not have the money to refill the prescription, so they would then go back to their previous state of hypertension. This being the case, giving anti-hypertensives to these patients was really no solution at all.

However, beyond the argument of giving these medications for such a short-time I would argue that the far deeper issue was not actually the fact that these patients were suffering from chronic hypertension but rather their life styles. Treating hypertension does very little for the long-term health of a patient without consideration of the lifestyle and habits that created this condition in the first place. Treating hypertension with medications is the equivalent of pulling the weed from the surface of the ground. It removes the appearance of the problem, however the problem still remains. To really treat the problem the dietary and lifestyle issues must be addressed. For it is these problems that are at the root of the chronic hypertension.

With this in mind, I think it is important for us to remember why we do the things that we do. So often, the processes we do on a daily basis we call "solutions." However, when these "solutions" do not address the root of the problem we fall short. Take a look around, do the solutions that you provide or participate in on a daily basis fix problems or do they fail to pull the root out of the ground?

The art of the Divine

2011-09-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

In the coolness of the night
To stand in silence
To listen to the darkness
The sun peaks over the mountains
The morning awakes
The art of the divine

Rain falls down
Smoke fills the air
Gentle music sings
The warmth of the fire
The art of the divine

I have no needs
I have no worries
Though the path is uncertain
My destiny is clear
I have no need to fear
My soul is at peace
Oh, the art of the divine

Proud to be an American

2011-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I have friends who travel overseas, I often hear a wide variety of responses in regards to their 'nationalism' upon coming back. Some will say, "Wow, when I saw all that poverty, I began to realize how consumerist our society is." Others will say, "Man, I wish I didn't have to come back to the States and that I could just stay overseas forever." Still others will say, "You know, I really just began to realize how blessed and fortunate we are here."

All these responses are based on the experience and perspective of the individual. I have to admit I have probably had some elements of all three in my thinking at one time or another since being overseas. However lately, I have really found one emotion rising above the rest, and that is, I am proud to be an American.

The other day, I was at a BBQ hosted by the US Embassy. Microbrews, beef brisket, conversations about home and country music. Even though I'm half way around the world, I felt right at home, and it was a good thing.

I often have business meetings here with some of the leading Sri Lankan business men. Often you can sense a certain amount of respect coming from them just because of where I am from. And more often then not, they will share a story with fondness about the time they went on a business trip to New York, or about their cousin who lives in North Carolina, or their brother living in Houston.

When I ride in a taxi, they ask where I am from, I tell them I'm from the States, and they always say, "Ah USA, very good place."

Even when you hear Sri Lankans referring to 'the embassy' you know there is only one embassy they are talking about, the U.S. embassy.

I guess what I am saying is that, Sri Lankans love America, and they have a certain amount of respect for me just because I am American, and I like it. I know it's not exactly the 'cool' thing these days, especially for people my age but, I always think to myself after these conversations, "Yeah, that's were I'm from, and I'm proud of it."

Blogging may stop, but life does not

2011-04-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

I find it borderline amusing how long I have gone without posting on this blog site, it raises the question: Why do I even still have this blog site? Since the last time blogging:

Left Haiti

Went to Sri Lanka

Started a company

Had some good times...

What more to say? Trying to do a summary of 10 months of living is not easy. I'm not sure that I am actually going to try. Perhaps though, I can use this as a launching point to start into talking about my new life, 'one day at a time'. Fresh starts are always good. Will this be another fresh start for me or just a failed attempt? Time will tell. Until such time when time does tell, I shall subside into living the life that I do.

Out of Haiti and onto...

2010-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Since the early May when my last posting was, so much has happened. It's not that I haven't had time to write because I have; it's more that I have been too busy trying to process all that has been going on, and just didn't ever get the urge to record it. So here I am now, to report the happenings in my life.

At this point, I'm not looking to list out piece by piece all that has happened since May. At some point I would like to assemble some more thoughts and stories from Haiti but for now I think I just keep it simple and to the point.

I have often joked with my colleagues that working 1 month in Haiti is the equivalent of working a year anywhere else. The reason for this is that so many 'abnormal' things happen in the average day that order to get the same experiences somewhere else it would take much longer. That being said, May and June were just as crazy as any other month. To add to it, I had some additional professional responsibilities that definitely added some to the mix. But overall, things seemed to be functioning at a 'normal' level for Haiti, and I got used to this fact.

In early June while my boss Donnie was out of the country away on business in Sri Lanka a pretty big opportunity came up. The opportunity to move to Sri Lanka and start a pre-hospital care system. This is something I have always dreamed of, and I jumped on the opportunity. A few days later I put in my resignation with my agency in Haiti, gave them a one month notice and started transitioning out of my job.

On July 10th I got back to the Oregon, where I am enjoying time with friends and family. August 4th, I'm headed off to Sri Lanka to live out my dream.

The UN Convoy and a Flat Tire

2010-05-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

There are some things that really just make for a good story, and I believe this is one of them:

Steve (our British Manager of Strategic Church Partnerships) and Jaweed (our Sri Lankan Finance Manager) and myself were all headed out to Leogane from our office in Port-au-Prince. Now I think I have mentioned this before, but traffic down here can be quite bad. It usually takes us somewhere around 2-3 hours to get out to Leogane from our office in Port-au-Prince which is only 23 miles away. Needless to say, it's a long drive and anything you can do to speed it up is nice.

On this particular drive there was a UN convoy with lights flashing, and sirens blaring coming through. Naturally, I started following them as they cleared out traffic as they went. The only problem was that I was actually in the middle of the convoy. I didn't realize this at first, but quickly noticed that there were several more UN vehicles behind me. I kept up for a while without any problems, but as we slowed down and the vehicles behind us caught up, I could see the driver of the vehicle behind me waving me off. Finally, I pulled off to the side and let the rest of the convoy go by. About 5-6 UN vehicles passes us, the last one was a pickup with several UN Sri Lankan peacekeeping troops inside. As they slowly went by, Jaweed called out to them in Sinhalese (the primary Sri Lankan language), they were quite excited by the sight of a fellow Sri Lankan so they told Jaweed in Sinhalese that they wanted us to get behind their vehicle and follow them.

There I was, trying to follow the UN compound weaving in and out of traffic. The thing that made it difficult was that our vehicle was not marked as a UN vehicle, so other cars kept on trying to cut us off, but we had the Sri Lankans in front of us who waved all the cars off when they tried to cut in. With the intimidation factor of their camouflage and automatic sub-machine guns this strategy was fairly effective. I don't know that I have ever had as many near accident experiences in a 10 minute period before. I had to continually squeeze through gaps that I was not sure I could make it through, but the Sri Lankans kept waving me on. It was intense. I was sitting up in my seat the entire time.

Finally, we broke out of the traffic a bit and were making decent time with the convoy, when out of no where appeared a 6+ inch rock in the roadway, I swerved to the right to miss it, but it was too late. I continued on for the next few seconds expecting a flat tire, and sure enough 30 seconds later the tire went flat and we lost the convoy... The ride was fun while it lasted anyway.

Life as Normal

2010-03-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well, as many of you know if you have been reading my blog up to this point, I came down to Haiti almost 7 weeks ago, but down here so much happens in the day that it seems like it was much longer ago than that. Since then my life has changed so much in so many ways. I haven't written about it in quite a while because I have been far too busy taking it in to even worry about putting into words.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of strange events that have somehow become quite normal and at times even expected. It is hard to find a day anymore where something actually comes off as being a surprise. Just last night I was talking to Donnie the head of mission down here in Haiti about this: When I first arrived in country we would drive down the streets and I would be amazed and in awe of all I saw around me, not only the destruction, but also the people and their cultural differences. Driving down the street my eyes would be glued to every image around me. Now however, everything has become so normal. I don't even notice the destroyed buildings around me anymore and the culturally bizarre things I see people do, don't shock me anymore. If anything they just make for a good laugh. But that's life as normal now. Expect everything to be hectic and bizarre, and it is.

There was the week of vehicle break-downs where nearly every vehicle in our fleet either broke down, got in an accident or got a flat tire. This was followed by the week of sickness: we had a team meeting one night where 4 (one of them being me) of the 15 or so people who were attending were hooked up to IV fluids. This was followed by the HQ visit week where we had 3 high ranking people from MTI headquarters all in country at the same time. Then we had the weekend of "rest" where the full time Haiti Ex-Pat staff returned to the states for a little R&R unfortunately for some of us flights got delayed and connections got missed and the weekend didn't turn out to be as restful as initially hoped for... This leads us to now.

After a wonderful and restful time back in the states, I made it safely back to Haiti. The first thing I had to deal with in country was the baggage claim. Unlike most civilized countries where they have a nice rubber conveyor belt that runs all your baggage through, they do things a little bit differently here, they do it Haitian style. They rope off an area inside an old hanger surrounding a cargo door. They unload all of the bags into that roped off area while all the passengers stand outside the rope watching. Then after most of the bags are unloaded some brave soul jumps in and grabs their bag, which is quickly followed by someone else unhooking the rope and a free for all convergence of passengers onto the pile of bags. There is yelling, pushing, grabbing... Then you walk outside and get swarmed by dozens of porters who are just dying to carry your bags for you and don't very well take no for an answer. It's really a great experience that just screams, "welcome to Haiti."

After all this I got home and began to settle in and catch up on my emails thinking I was going to be able to ease back into things. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Donnie who was about 45 minutes away saying, "How quickly can you get here, there's been a team (not an MTI team) of 7 people who got in a bad car wreck up in the mountains, some of them are critically injured, I need your help." After waiting 20 minutes for my driver Wilson (who was out doing errands) to show up, I loaded up my backpack full of bandages, swabs and IV fluids and raced toward the mountains. Traffic is ridiculous here, so Wilson decided to take the back roads to avoid traffic. The back roads in Haiti are awful, one has to wonder if technically they can even be called roads. As we bounced up and down on these roads with the emergency flashers on and the horn blaring, I was attached to my phone trying to text Donnie to find out the rest of the details and the exact location of the accident while simultaneously talking to one of our HQ guys trying to arrange transportation for a group of potential donors we had in country. After making it far up into the mountains I finally got a call from Donnie saying, "We didn't make it in time, the helicopter evac beat us to it."

Coming back down from the mountain I realized that the HQ guy and the potential donors still didn't have a ride, so we swung by and picked them up to take them to dinner at our place. We got back to our compound with the potential donors when one of our Haitian staff approached me and said, "I think there's been a misunderstanding, Margaret (the cook) only cooked for 3 people and there are 10 of you." So here I was with a group of potential donors who had just been stranded for the past 3 hours, back at our compound ready to feed them the meal we had promised, only to find out that there wasn't enough food... Great... Plan B anyone? Wilson, "I think there is a restaurant open that is near here." Me and the HQ guy, "Done." So we headed out to the restaurant and ended up having a quite pleasant evening. It's that kind of dichotomy that makes this line of work so interesting. One minute you are racing up a rough mountain road to go and attempt to rescue people, the next minute you are sitting at a table with a bunch of potential donors doing your best to host them... And that was just my first few hours back in country...

2010-02-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

After having written quite a bit about my time here in Haiti, I thought I would give you a little taste of the day to day life I have been experiencing through video. It may be a bit more interestig than reading all my posts. And it actually takes a lot less time than writing too...

You never know who you will meet

2010-02-25T18:27:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not writing anything in a while, but I have found that when you are in an administrative role and not really out in the field too much, there's not that much that is interesting enough to write about.

There has been some funny stories along the way these past couple of weeks, but I am beginning to realize that when posting things on the Internet one should be very careful in what they write, because you never know who is watching. This being said, if you would like to hear about some of these amusing experiences feel free to ask.

Today after being attached to my desk for the past couple weeks I finally got the chance to get out and do some diplomatic work out in the field. It is all a very interesting process, I am certainly learning a lot. I am beginning to see the very real but unfortuneate side of politicing between NGO's. It's unfortuneate that in the midst of all the good work being done, there has to be a very strategic "dark side" if you will, of flag planting, secretive conversations and blunt negotiations. But the reality is that relief work is not a utopia of good works. All agencies involved have there own agendas that don't always line up across the board; to be entirely honest some of their motives aren't always the best and in many cases one has to question why they even bothered to show up to "help out." This is the unfortuneate truth of relief work. Wherever there are humans involved, there will be problems.

Enough about that. Today, I actually had a pretty cool experience. Our head of mission, Donnie, and I went out to some more distant cities about two hours out of Port-au-Prince to do some assesments of the medical work being done in these areas. We ended up at a field hospital in Petit Goave with a group of volunteer doctors and nurses from the states who were doing some work there. We had just met these volunteers and they were showing us their operations at the clinic. I noticed some U.S. Army personell around which is not such an unusual site down here with all the work they are doing. However this group was slightly different, instead of doing grunt work they seemed to be touring around looking at the operation. Randomly a Colonel approched us and started talking to us. I thought, "hmmm, this is kinda strange for a major officer to be wandering around here." A few seconds later a group of a few other officers approached, clearly led by one particular individual. I looked at this individual's jacket and noticed an insignia I had never seen before on a BDU... two stars. As he extended his hand for a hand shake I thought, "wait a second, this guy is a Major General from the U.S. Army!" This officer I just met was Major General Daniel B. Allyn deputy commander of Joint Task Force Unified Response in Haiti. After a few minutes of small talk about the work we were doing in Haiti, he moved on... Pretty cool, not everyday do you get to meet a guy of his standing.

You never know what the day will throw at you

2010-02-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned yesterday, logistics can be quite an ordeal in a disaster situation. With our new team coming in, we realized the need for more transportation. So we went to Avis and rented a couple vehicles. Two days in a row, we had those vehicles break down on us, while trying to get the medical teams out to their clinics. We thought we had all the problems sorted through. Last night Donnie our Country Director said, "you know tomorrow will be really great if only we don't have any more car problems." Sure enough, this morning another one of the rentals broke down... Not to mention after doing lots of reconnaissance and coordination with the 82nd Airbore we showed up at our clinic sight to find another group already there, a whole different story. So we found other work for our medical staff to do and then we searched around town to find a new car we could purchase. We went to a dealership and asked for a bus, and this is what the salesman showed us... Some days you just can't win. Despite all this our day actually turned out quite well over all. The Lord truly does have a plan in it all.

Later this evening I had a bit of a surprise. While sitting behind my computer typing away, Pastor Andre one of our drivers came up to me and said, "Kellen, come quick I need your help." He then explained the situation to me saying that one of his pastor friends has a daughter who is sick and needed our help, he also said that she was right outside our compound. So I grabbed Jeff our Pediatrician and went out to where the girl was. Turns out she was actually 32 so I didn't necessarily need to have grabbed the Pediatrician... Needless to say, she got a thorough assessment by 3 doctors, 3 nurses, and a paramedic. After our assessment the docs narrowed it down to a liver or gall bladder problem, and a bit of dehydration. I got my first IV start since paramedic school and we started her on some antibiotics. After recieving a bag of fluids and a few other meds she left the compound and will return tomorrow for reassessment... A little evening excitement.

2010-02-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I have now moved into a new role at our main office in Port-au-Prince. So I thought I would give you a new look at my day to day life. This first picture is our office, where we are running all of our Haiti operations out of. It may seem like a simple thing to show up in Haiti to help out, and for some of people it may be just that simple. But behind the scenes there are a lot of people working to support those who come to help out.

Organizing 30+ medical volunteers in a country that is completely lacking in infrastructure has proved to be quite a challenge. Food, water, interpreters, transportation, communications, medications, security, partnerships with governments, ngo's, hospitals and clinics, and keeping 30+ doctors and nurses happy can be very time consuming... Which is where I come in.

I sleep up on the roof of our compound in a "bug hut" as shown above, I have a tarp all ready to go in case it rains. I usually wake up about 6:00 am when it gets light outside, read my Bible for a few minutes, wash my face, get dressed and prepare for the day. Breakfast starts at 6:30 am, which usually consists of porridge, bread, butter, jam, and some good strong Haitian coffee. We eat and meet in the area shown below. After breakfast, our goal is to get the teams out to the 4-5 locations we are working in throughout the country. This involves ensuring we have adequate drivers, transportation, interpreters and communication. We usually have the teams all loaded up ad ready to go by about 8:00 am. After this we usually relax for a few minutes and make plans for the day.

I usually end up going to 1-2 meetings per day. I stay in contact with our Portland office, to keep track of teams coming in and out, and figure what resources are needed and how we will acquire them in order to keep our teams functional. There are usually important people from partnering organizations coming in and out as well, so one always has to be prepared to give a tour of our operations, or act as political representation in the case that our director is out of the office, or just be ready to smile and nod...

Once we get the office a little more stabalized and our routine in place, I will also have the opportunity to go out with the teams on occasion and do some medical work... It's a good variety.

The teams usually come back around 5-6 pm. Dinner is at 6:30 pm, and we usually have a team meeting after dinner. While the teams decompress from their days, the administrative group usually keeps working untill anywhere from 9:30 pm to 1:00 am depeding on the workload for the day. I finish the day with a cold bucket shower. Crash into bed, try to sleep with the noise of roosters (which are everywhere and crow all night long) and airplanes (our compound is right at the end of the International Airport's runway) all about. Then the cycle starts all over again.

I guess that gives a pretty good summary of the day to day life for me here in Haiti.

2010-02-13T05:20:00.000-08:00

Woke up the other morning to find this furry little friend about 3 feet from my cot. It was a pleasant surprise. After taunting him a bit with a Banana peal he got pretty unhappy as you can see, he is rearing back showing us his fangs. Later, after he returned to his hole in the ground, I put a large rock over it for safe keeping... Although I really liked the idea of waking up to find him crawling on my face in the middle of the night I thought it would be better to save the camp from my screams.

So I have spent the last couple of weeks now doing mobile clinics out of a place called Leogane. It is very nice out there. The last couple of clinics we have held have been out in villages surrounded by lush farmland under a mango tree. Although we have still been seeing some pretty bad wounds in our clinics, overall the acuity is pretty low, and we are focused more on primary care. The spirits of the people in the the more rural communities is quite high. When we go out and set up our gear, the whole village usually shows up to hang out. It seems to be the social event of the day. There are lots of kids around trying to cause trouble. As you can see, the kid I am standing with kept stealing my exam gloves out of the garbage after I was done with them. I was trying to figure out what he was going to do with them. Then at the end of the day he presented me with a slingshot made of braided exam gloves... Very innovative.

About a ten minute walk from our compound in Leogane one of our interpreters is running an orphanage with about 30 kids. On a couple occasions after finishing clinics for the day me and a couple other volunteers have walked over to play with the kids. The hunger they have for a little love and attention is incredible. The little girl in the pink dress was my favorite. When I was there, she would follow me around just staring into my eyes partially with a fascination over my white skin, but also with a longing to be loved.

Most of the team I have been working with has left or is leaving soon. A new group of doctors and nurses just came in, as well as a new country director... Things are very organized now. I have been re-assinged from the beautiful countyside of Leogane, to take charge of the mobile urban clinics we will be running with medics from the 82nd Airborn in Port-au-Prince, as well as helping with logistical support at HQ... Back to the big city. It will be a good change of pace and a valuable learning experience. I am actually looking forward to it. I'll let you know in a couple days how these clincs go.

2010-02-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

Finally got the chance to add an image onto my blog. This is a picture from our tour of Port-au-Prince our first day out here. As you can see, it's utter destruction as far as the eye can see. You can literally drive 2 hrs from this location and see a very similar destruction. I think it will take the country a long time to recover from this.

Just got back from a 3 day stint in Leogane a city that is about 1 1/2 hr drive from Port-au-Prince the capital. We are based out of a field hospital there working with a multi-national group of doctors, nurses and paramedics. 2 nights ago the German group Johanter invited us over for dinner at their camp, located within the compound. There were probably about 30 of us around several tables, representing 12 different countries and 3 different languages. It was quite the impressive sight.

During the day we either work out of the field hospital in Leogane or do mobile clinics in the surrounding villages. The work at the hospital is somewhat structured, with workable equipment and a designated stations and referral systems, for example, today I was assigned to vaccinating. I think I gave 150+ TD vaccines...

The mobile clinics are a whole different ball game. We cram our team and all of our gear into our Land Cruiser (with a snorkel on the front) and head up winding dirt roads, cross a couple streams, go through a plantation and end up in a small mountain village. As soon as we start pulling out our gear, hundreds of people converge, pressing tighter and tighter on your location, the noise level getting louder and louder until we can hardly move or hear. In order to avoid this, we have had to be very assertive and almost mean, in order that we might simply provide them with the medical care they need. Our first day at one particular village was a mess. Fortunately our second day at that village the Canadian military showed up to help with crowd control. This helped our clinic to go much better. I was primarily doing wound care, immunizations and treatment for fungal infections. It was a very tiring but good experience.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have the day off. We will try and go to a Haitian Church service in the morning that starts at 6 am. Later in the day a couple of us are going to try and escape the compound walls and the filth of the city and go for a hike in a more rural natural setting and experience the freedom of the hills. Working in the filth of the city with nothing but chaos and desruction is wearing on the soul. It will be nice to escape for a bit.

In Haiti

2010-02-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

Been very busy these past few days. Haven't had much time to update. A lot has happened spent 3 days in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, that was quite the experience lot's of stories from that. Finally got a UN flight into Haiti.

We are based out of a decently nice place called the "Guest House" in Port-au-Prince right near the airport. However we spend most of our time out at clinics for 3-day stints where we are camping with cots and no running water. I have been doing lots of wound care, cleaning and dressing nasty pussed out wounds, and assisting one of our team members with pulling teeth, I am learning so much. Being a paramedic I really only know stuff about emergency medicine. The world of primary care is a whole new thing, it's been a great experience.

Our first day down here we took a 2 hour tour of Port-au-Prince... Wow, the destruction is incredible: it is everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of people living under sheets streched over sticks, and rubble as far as the eye can see. I have never seen anything like it.

Someone is waiting to use the computer so I better go. We have the day off on Sunday. So I will probably be able to update then.

Until Then,

Kellen

Let the adventures begin

2010-01-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

So after doing last minute shopping all day preparing to leave, I finally made it to bed about 10 pm Tuesday night. I was tired and completely worn out, but thoughts were racing through my head and I ended up getting about 2 hrs of sleep. I made it through the morning, and had the blessing of having most of my family at the airport to see me off.

Flying from Portland to Houston was fairly uneventful, and I managed to get about 2 hrs of sleep. I walked off of that plane and walked 2 gates down and got on the plane to Ft. Lauderdale. The flight started out fairly normal, then about an hr or so in I saw the two flight attends utter some select curse words and run to the back of the plane. Hmmm... Looks like someone is having a medical problem. I sat in my seat in anticipation to see if I would be called back, after about a minute a voice came on the overhead, "If there is a physician on board, please respond to the back of the plane." Whew, I thought, good thing I didn't go to medical school. However ten seconds later the voice came back on the overhead, "If there is a physician, nurse, or EMT on board, please respond to the back of the plane." Yep, that's me... So I responded and saw an older gentleman sitting on the bench looking a little pale and anxious. Another paramedic from florida also responded... We got his vitals, had him lay back and put his feet up, got the story and decided that he seemed to be doing fine... A little anxious about flying, and a little warm, on blood pressure medications and standing up too quickly makes for a syncopal episode. We finished our assesment, and returned to our seats. I'm sure this was nothing compared to what I will be seeing in Haiti, but hey, what a way to get things started.

Now I am in Ft. Lauderdale staying at the Comfort Inn waiting to hear if we get a flight to Santo Domingo today. From there we will be flying out Friday afternoon on a UN charter plane to Port au Prince, Haiti.

Let the adventures begin!

Life is Crazy!

2010-01-26T20:01:00.001-08:00

Life is crazy! The Lord has been pouring out his blessings upon me as of late... Awesome friends and family, job interviews... and just got a call this evening, I'm leaving for Haiti... Tomorrow!

Yesterday, I had a test and job interview with a local ambulance company to work as a paramedic, this was a huge blessing, it's been quite a while since any of the agencies in the area have been hiring. I passed the test, felt like I did pretty well in the interview. I got back to my car and found that I had missed a call from a local non-profit I have been volunteering with, Medical Teams International. So I called them back, and found out they wanted to send me to Haiti for 30-60 days leaving this Wednesday. I told them that I just didn't know if I could do based on the possibility of a job offer and some other things I had coming up. So I prayed about it, contacted a lot of people I love and respect, got some very meaningful thoughts and prayers. After going back and forth I saw the Lord's hand at work in the situation and at 6:30 this morning I made the call and told them I would be willing to go. After a day of running around like crazy I finally received confirmation about leaving at about 5:00 o'clock this evening!

Praise the Lord for this amazing opportunity. I feel so blessed. Your continued thoughts and prayers will be appreciated. I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible.

Kellen